


στοιχεῖον

by TheoMiller



Category: Fantastic Four (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different Powers, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2015-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 19:17:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,237
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5597731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheoMiller/pseuds/TheoMiller
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>στοιχεῖον, or stoicheion: a part of a whole, a letter or syllable, element.</p><p>Or, the one where I built on an existing theme.</p>
            </blockquote>





	στοιχεῖον

**Author's Note:**

  * For [kyaku](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyaku/gifts), [fate-motif (Jo_Girard)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jo_Girard/gifts).



> :D :D :D POWER REDESIGN!

_Area 57 Ground Team 38 Findings Report, unredacted:_

_Ground Team 38 arrived shortly before 0700. […] Subject Four was found in adjacent lab area at approximately 0930. Subject Four was hypothermic and had gone unfound due to not registering on the infrared. Emergency medical attention required to stabilize her for transport. […] Further investigation of area revealed evidence that HVAC unit's water line in ceiling had ruptured._

-

When Sue wakes up, her father is beside her. She can't move her limbs, everything aches, and there's a faint tremor shaking at her entire body. It's so cold in this room, she can't understand why he's just wearing a wife-beater and dripping with sweat.

"Where's Johnny?" she says, struggling against the strange weight on her skin.

"Sue," says her father, smoothing his fingers across her forehead like he used to do when she was sick and feverish, "Your brother is fine. Don't try and move, honey, you're all wrapped up."

She finally registers that what's holding her down is a bundle of blankets. Her head is free, although she thinks she must be wearing at least fifty beanies, and she tips it to the side to get a better look at the room.

There must be fifty space heaters, all going at full blast.

"Dr. Storm," someone says. "Your core body temperature is reaching dangerous levels again."

Sue squeezes her eyes shut, because none of this makes sense, none of it makes any sense at all.

-

"Her resting heart rate is at 26bpm," Dr. Fyfe notes. "According to her medical records, it was 53 previously."

Dr. Brooks squints at the temperature readings. "She shouldn't be able to survive like that. There's no way she's getting oxygen to everywhere it needs to be."

"I think her oxygen needs are different. Her sat levels are in the sixties, but we're not seeing any decrease in brain function," Dr. Picardo chimes in.

They exchange looks – working in Area 57 is a study in _oh, Jesus H. Christ, med school did NOT prepare us for this_ in general, but ever since Project Zero took things over, it's been compounded – before returning to the data.

"Is the heat what's causing her distress?" asks Dr. Brooks.

"It might well be. We'll try lowering the ambient temperature," says Dr. Fyfe.

-

Sue wakes up again. She's no longer trapped in blankets, and there are no space heaters. There's even movement in the air that suggests they've turned air conditioning on instead.

She doesn't shiver.

Her joints pop and creak uncomfortably when she moves; she doesn't know how long she's been in here, but she imagines it's been at least 48 hours. She swings her legs off the bed; no sooner do the pads of her feet touch the floor than the door is sliding open.

It's someone she doesn't recognize, so she backs away quickly, until she's pressed against the wall.

There's a faint crackling noise.

She glances at the wall, and sees the crystalline patterns of frost forming across its surface.

The stranger in the lab coat stops dead and holds up his hands. "Miss Storm," he says, "I'm Dr. Walker."

"Where's my brother?" she asks.

"I can't tell you—"

Dr. Walker seizes up, and there's a lot of yelling, and someone shoots her. It must be a tranquilizer, because there's not any pain, and although it takes a strangely long time to work, there's no mistaking the fuzz that encroaches on her vision.

-

"Jesus," says Dr. Fyfe.

"Is that—"

"Frozen blood," Dr. Picardo says. "Yeah. Blocked pretty much every vein in his body up at once. He's damn lucky to be alive."

"It's a neat trick," says Dr. Brooks, a little too approvingly.

They both look at her.

"What? We were all thinking it."

"Yeah, but none of us _said_ it."

"He's alive, I'm allowed to joke about wanting him dead."

-

_Interview Transcripts, unredacted:_

_Subject Four: "There's this phenomenon known as paradoxical undressing. Hypothermia patients […] sometimes start pulling off their clothes. Trying to cool down. At some point, their brain stops reading the cold as cold. The wires get crossed, in the brain. The sensation starts being read as heat, unbearable heat. […] Yeah. I should be so lucky."_

-

Sue is allowed to see Johnny once a week, through a double-paned wall of tempered glass. They both spend the entire time pressed against the glass, as close to shoulder-to-shoulder as they can.

"You know what I realized," Johnny says. "Do you remember your nickname in high school?"

She huffs a laugh, quietly, before she can stop herself. "I was hoping you'd forgotten that."

"The Ice Queen," he says, in a dramatic tone of voice. "Gotta tell you, Suzie, I would pay good money to see their faces now that you can actually kill them with a look."

"I don't want to kill anyone," says Sue, but she also can't help thinking of Harvey smirking as he talked about bringing NASA in, so it's possible that's a lie.

Johnny shrugs, brushing against the intercom's speaker obnoxiously. "They wouldn't have to know that."

"You're getting better at not burning your clothes off," says Sue. "I was starting to think I'd have to kill _you_ just to keep from being traumatized once a week."

It's easier, to banter like this. To pretend nothing's wrong.

And then Johnny says, casually, "They're thinking about sending me into the field, once I can control it."

She thinks her blood would run cold, if it could.

-

_Subject Four Asset Report, Day 37:_

_Subject Four has demonstrated the ability to create structures of ice when given access to liquids. Structures greater than 45 cubic centimeters cannot yet be sustained for any amount of time._

-

Reed's not cooperating.

Dr. Picardo looks surprised, when she demands to see him after a month and a half of only asking after Johnny, but she doesn't say no outright.

A couple of hours later, Reed is led into her cell.

He's bundled up in a parka, and he starts flushing from the bitter cold within seconds of walking into the room. He won't meet her eyes.

"Johnny told me what happened," she says. She doesn't have time to be delicate about ripping off the bandaid.

"Then you know it was my fault."

She folds her arms. "If you believed that, you'd help us fix this."

"I woke up," he says, "handcuffed to a cot. They won't let me leave. They won't let me see Ben. They won't let me talk to Ben's mother. There is _nothing_ keeping us alive, except that they want to make more people like you guys."

Sue goes very, very still. Language is patterns, and there's a blip in the pattern. "You guys," she repeats.

Reed doesn't say anything.

"There's nothing wrong with you," says Sue. "I can't ever warm up, I can't touch anyone without giving them frostbite at best and a _massive heart attack and stroke_ at worst, and you're _fine_?"

He meets her eyes. "Yeah," he says.

"Fix the gate," Sue says.

-

_Subject Four Asset Report, Day 92:_

_Subject can now create complex matrices of solids out of most liquids. Pure water appears to be the most reactive. Introduction of Freons to subject's environment has no impact on ability to create structures_.

-

The heat signature looks humanoid. It looks humanoid, _dear god it looks humanoid oh god oh god oh god—_

"I knew you'd come back."

"Victor," says Reed.

Sue's heart starts to pound.


End file.
